Behaviourism and Bloom's taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy Of Learning And Modern Trends In Education: Addressing Issues Of Cultural And Learning Diversities

The issue of cultural diversity and its effect on learning styles in the typical modern classroom is a subject of increasing attention in the academic literature on the subject, and with good reason. Globalization has made the world increasingly smaller, and students in all countries are both more likely to encounter a culturally diverse group of peers throughout their education and more likely to depend on intercultural competency for success in their adult lives. Of the myriad of different learning theories and teaching styles that are described in the literature and practiced in the educational field, some are better suited to nurturing and utilizing diversity, as well as catering to the needs of a diverse group of students, while others are far more limited and less effective in this regard.

One major theoretical school in the field of learning theory is that of Behaviorism, which sees learning as a largely external event that requires practice and leads to the development of specific skill sets and practices -- i.e. behaviors. This is contrasted with the school of Cognitivism, which sees learning as an internal process rather than an external event. Both theories yield valuable insight into the learning process, and both also have theories that can be misused to the detriment of students, especially in a diverse classroom setting. An adequate understanding of the theories and practices to be applied in the classroom as well as the specific issues facing educators today is necessary for an effective application of learning theories.

This paper will examine the positive and negative aspects of utilizing Bloom's taxonomy of learning in the modern diverse classroom. Though this taxonomy began development over half a century ago, it has remained current and is still widely used to separate different areas and activities of learning in order to evaluate educational effectiveness. Bloom essentially identified different behaviors or tasks associated with learning at different orders of significance, difficulty, and growth that can be used to evaluate both individual progress and overall program effectiveness. When the taxonomy is properly used to guide education, a diversity of techniques, skills, and values become inherent to the education process, promoting and utilizing diversity in the classroom; a misapplication of the taxonomy, however, can be hugely limiting for the educator and the students alike.

Current Trends and Issues in Diversity Education

Collaboration and the development of interpersonal skills and effectiveness is seen as a paramount concern of modern education by many scholars and practitioners (Curran & Riordan 2006; Valke et al. 2009). Bloom's taxonomy has been shown to be a useful approach to the encouragement of collaboration and an appreciation of different learning styles, as well as a means of suggesting specific activities to encourage higher-order learning and cooperation (Valke et al. 2009; Page 2010). Other approaches include the simple expansion of the diversity of materials used in education, which has also proven a highly effective way of addressing diversity concerns -- especially when this expansion is guided by theory (Tyler & Guth 1999).

Diversity is approached very differently in different parts of the world, and even within specific regions and localities there are a multitude of perspectives that are being brought to bear on the issue that often have mutually exclusive purposes and effects, at least to some degree (Lasegaard 2010). Global disparities in wealth also necessarily lead to differences in the way issues are handled; the experiential and multimedia-based learning that has proven an effective means of training in diversity-utilizing behaviors is not as readily available to impoverished regions and institutions (Seaman et al. 2010; Tyler & Guth 1999). In domestic situations, conflicts have arisen largely out of ideological issues concerning the degree to which diversity should be catered to and its effects on existing cultural elements, but most scholars agree that an understanding of diversity and the development of proper interpersonal skills is an essential facet of modern education (Lasegaard 2010).

Several practical and experimental studies have shown that an application of Bloom's taxonomy in the lesson plan development of educators and, where appropriate, by students in their analysis and recognition of their own learning tasks, activities, and process, has definite benefits in creating more frequent and more involving higher-order learning and interactions (Page 2010; Valcke et al. 2009). The incorporation of diverse teaching methods and materials also automatically encourages a diversification of learning tasks and responsibilities, and these are enhanced still further by the use of an overriding theory in the diversification of such media and practices (Page 2010; Seaman et al. 2010).

Meeting Individual and Diversity Needs

One of the major issues facing education in terms of handling diversity is the need to ensure that all individual learning needs are met, while at the same time the diverse needs of the student group are also given adequate attention. Classes do not learn as singular units -- they do not achieve understanding and progress in their education en masse -- but rather individuals achieve learning, and often more effectively through group interaction (Page 2010). Bloom's taxonomy and an understanding of the basic principles of behaviorism can lead to educational practices and activities that promote a proper respect for and utilization of diversity on a variety of levels, promoting gender and cultural equality through a variety of interactions and processes that lead to higher order processes, skills, and behaviors according to Bloom's classification of learning tasks and types.

Many of these higher order functions, such as the evaluation and synthesis of information and knowledge, are largely dependent on interpersonal interactions, and thus the use of Bloom's taxonomy in developing higher-order tasks and learning activities as a part of standard lesson plans serves both individual learning needs and ensures exposure to the full extent of diversity that the classroom has to offer (Page 2010; Valcke et al. 2009). This also encourages the true recognition of gender and cultural diversity, rather than simply exemplifying a tolerance which has proven less effective and less lasting in creating a diversity-aware population of students and young adults (Laegaard 2010; Page 2010).

Promoting exposure to and experience with diversity on all levels, from gender to ethnicity and religion to culture, comes in many forms and is attended to by many different educational theories. Experiential learning, however, has shown to be one of the most effective means of promoting diversity, equality, inclusion, and appreciation amongst students of all ages (Valcke et al. 2009; Seaman et al. 2010). Though other approaches also exist that have a great deal of efficacy, it is through direct external -- i.e. behavioral -- interaction, and through consistent practice of such behaviors, that diversity comes to be truly appreciated and utilized as an effective resource, rather than seen as an impediment or an inconsequential feature of a classroom/work environment/society. This suggests why Bloom's taxonomy, with its behaviorist perspective, is so effective in assisting with the development of diversity-enhancing and -- promoting educational practices.

Equity and Achievement Standards

Other major concerns in the educational field when it comes to diversity are maintaining an equity in the educational practices and expectations that are held for students. Especially when it comes to cultural diversity, which can lead to very different learning styles and self-assessments, the issue of equity in instruction and achievement determinations becomes especially important and considerably more complex; fairness and objectivity must be achieved for those of a culturally and/or ethnically diverse background, but at the same time students of the dominant culture cannot be short-changed.

Increasing the amount and degree of contact between diverse individuals has been shown, perhaps somewhat obviously, to be the most effective means of achieving not only an appreciation of diverse backgrounds, learning styles, and skills, but also of creating a certain equality of perception and action in classroom groups (Seaman et al. 2010). That is, the very promotion of diversity actually enables a lessened need for specific diversity practices in the assessment of student achievement, the need does not disappear entirely, but this reduction can be seen as the logical result of effective diversity education. Students acquire a diversity of learning styles and techniques in addition to their increased interpersonal skills, especially as higher-order interactions in small diverse groups occurs, making their progress somewhat more unified and definitely more easily assessed along similar lines, rather than requiring disparate assessment techniques for each student (Page 2010).

There is more good news for educators and administrators concerned with diversity. Computer modeling of social activities shows that increased cultural learning also improves other cognitive functions, facilitating faster and more effective learning in many areas through the increased accessibility of diverse learning styles and techniques instilled through exposure to diversity (Curran & O'Riordan 2006). This enables another method in which the measure of student achievement can be used to provide feedback. Given this piece of information, it would be expected that overall achievement in most areas would improve for most students if an adequate diversity education program was in place; if this is not occurring, then greater diversity education -- and a more careful and individualized assessment of each student's achievement -- would be called for in the classroom.